Kaʻiulani Damas makes "Pae Mahu o Kauaʻi" a figure about spiritual healers from a far. The figure begins on the thumbs similar to figures made bythe Kwatkiutl. Could these healers have been Kwatkiutl carried to Kauaʻi on currents? Petroglyphs can be found at the foot of the Wailua River on Kauaʻi showing circular beings as shown in the loops of the figure.

Two versions of ʻUala (sweet potato) made by Kaʻiulani Takamori and Kaʻiu Damas.

Young Hei Learners at Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Here, Tuhi Kanahele shows "Hale Pa'akai" or "Kanaka" which she learned from her father, Tangaro Taupori of Hilo. Tuhi is in elementary school. The "door" of the house is able to be shut and opened. Here, another young participant at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival learns "Honu/Turtle" She is also in elementary school and demonstrated a propensity to learn quickly.

The Wayuu are from NE Columbia/NW Venezuela on the Guajira Peninsula. They learned to weave from a female ancestor who learned from a spider. Their string figures tell of this story as well as other arts taught to this woman. The Wayuu were one of 4 indigenous peoples from Columbia whose languages are endangered that performed and shared their language and arts at the 2013 Smithsonian Folklife Festival in Washington, D.C. The theme was "One World, Many Voices" and we Hawaiians were also represented.

ʻUmeke a Hina, or Calabash of the goddess Hina is a symbol of abundance. Hina was the wife of Kū, god of the forests, fishing, husbandry, war, and governance. The figure is one of a few that is made with the assistance of the toe. The calabash should sit on the earth with the wide mouth facing up to accept and receive the bounty of the land. I have seen string enthusiasts and "experts" on Hawaiian hei display this figure upside down; however, this action portends loss of abundance and wealth.

The string figure Lonomuku represents the woman in the moon. One leg (side) is shorter than the other because when she tried to escape from her abusive husband by leaping to the moon, he grabbed hold and tore it off. Her family maintains that she dismembered her leg as a pinned mo'o does to their tail when trapped. Picture taken outside of Pa'I Foundation where classes are held free of charge to interested learners.

Here I am in my first Papa Hei performing Koko a Makali'i, the net of Makali'i. Our kupuna (elders)tell us that Makali'i took all the food on earth and hung them in the sky. Only the rat people were able to save mankind from starvation by climbing upon the rainbow and nibbling on the net so that food would once again return to earth. The place that the rat people fell is called 'Iole (rat) on the island of Hawai'i. A portion of the net was embedded in a rock on the south side of the island.